Kim Jong-a on horseback: a message, but which one?

By Harold Thibault Posted today at 00:49, updated at 08:20

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The North Korean leader proudly sits on his mount on Mount Paekdu, in the north of the country, near the Chinese border. The white horse gallops on snowy ground and Kim Jong-un, in his coat with fur collar, has his feet with stirrups and reins well in hand. The photos were published Wednesday, October 16 by the official North Korean agency.

This is a symbolic thing. According to the North Korean history as told by the Party-State, Kim Il-sung, the founder of the regime and grandfather of the current leader, mounted a white horse when he fought the Japanese in Manchuria, and held the maquis from this mountain under the occupation.

When he succeeded his father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011, Kim Jong-un was probably 27 years old (his date of birth is not certain) and anchored his legitimacy in his lineage, with a haircut evoking that of his grandfather. Many propaganda posters showing the founder of the young Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have also been modified to accentuate in the grandfather the traits that are found in the heir. To the point that it has become difficult to distinguish them in certain images.

The official story also argues that Kim Jong-il was born on Mount Paekdu, making it a sacred place. In reality, the second leader of the DPRK is probably born in a Russian village. "But no matter, this is part of the myth of state"says Fyodor Tertitskiy, a specialist in North Korean politics at Kookmin University in Seoul.

Interrogations of the observers

It is to remind the dynastic lineage and therefore the foundation of its power that Kim Jong-un has already been there on the eve of important decisions: before having his uncle tried unfair and acquired to China in 2013 ; or as we approach the fifth North Korean nuclear test in 2016; or in December 2017, a few days before telling the world that he wants to see his country participate in the Olympic Winter Games in South Korea and to be open to negotiations that have led to three meetings with US President Donald Trump.

The new images feed the interrogations of observers of North Korea, at a key moment. There has been no significant breakthrough since the failure of the Hanoi summit with the White House tenant in February. Negotiations are bent on the dismantling of nuclear infrastructures on the North Korean side and the lifting of sanctions on the American side. The two sides have resumed contact at the end of September, but in early October, after the failure of talks in Stockholm, Pyongyang asked Washington an ultimatum: stop "Hostile policies" before the end of the year.